Builds LX450 "Rex" Build (1 Viewer)

[NeverFinis]

I made a decision a few months back and I have been on a shopping spree.

Starting a build thread for my triple locked LX450. Goal is to have an expedition vehicle that is reliable, robust and comfortable that we can enjoy. It won't be a rock crawler but it should be able to take us to most remote locations and have camp setup within 10-20 minutes after we stop driving for the day.

Starting with:

Already installed are OME heavy 2.5" springs and shocks, slee-offroad caster correction bushings, extended brake lines, and Ron Davis radiator. Not installed but currently have: 8K winch and 42 gallon aux LRA tank. I would rather have a larger winch, but it will do. I don't want to be in a situation where winching is a real possibility.

Arrived: Penthouse XL Tent

Arrived: Ostrich Wing Awning
Arrived: Drawer Kit
Arrived: Tailgate Storage Lid

Some of the above was part of a recent group buy from Rugged Bound, which started the whole buying frenzy. "in for a penny, in for a pound"

I decided to swap in a LS L96 + 6L80/6L90. The L96 is considered an expedition motor with an iron block. It is rated for commercial duty and severe use. Extremely simple engine with modern technology. The more I read about the LS96, the more I like it. I am not a chevy person at all, but the tech improvements of the LS/LT motors has been impressive. This swap will come later. I am not a fan of the 1FZ-FE engine. IMHO, it is underpowered, inefficient, and unreliable. Rebuilding a 1FZ-FE is just putting lipstick on a pig.

I will need to build a kitchen setup, and something for water storage. For the latter, I am thinking of a water tank that is under belly, between the passenger frame rail and body, after the exhaust crossover, to keep weight low, rather than the typical cans on the rear bumper. That penthouse tent is 193 lbs and it is high. I will probably only put a flexible solar panel on top and maybe recovery boards.

Speaking of rear bumper, one side will be a tire carrier, but the other side I am thinking of an aluminum storage box like the gallery or deluxe box from Aluminess.

Arrived: Delta VS Front Bumper
Arrived: Delta VS Rear Bumper

A stainless steel filler neck from otramm arrived.

A new replacement galvanized gas tank arrived from Rock Auto.

There is rust behind the passenger side wheel well. I haven't inspected the driver's side yet. I guess that is common place for rust to be. I can't find patch panels The rusty sheet metal is hidden, so I might make a quick job of it.

I am removing the factory roof racks in preparation for the RTT and load bars... And rust...but I don't think it is too bad. I will sand down and weld them shut. I have a Plug Weld tool on order to help with this.

Worst two spots below. My goal today is to remove the headliner to get access to underneath. BTW, the wind deflector mount was perfectly designed to hold water to slowly drip into that Rivnut.. Both of them had standing water inside....

 

[NeverFinis]

I spent today removing almost every trim piece. There were areas of rust on the door sills, just poking out from underneath the trim pieces, that I was worried about but it is just surface rust. The metal underneath the roof rack is solid, and no apparent rust. The rust is just on the top surface.

Close up of two mounting holes:

In fact, all the interior metal looks really good, considering this is a New England vehicle.

A big downside is mice made their way up to the headliner and went to town. I didn't know that was even possible. I pulled a few old mice corpses out. They even chewed some of the fiberglass backing of the headliner. I am cleaning it and I can lay more fiberglass, but I will try to source a replacement. A new headliner is close to $1200 and I am not sure it is even shippable.

The model of my headliner is 6331160320A0

 

[NeverFinis]

Painted my 42 gallon ..just because.

 

[NeverFinis]

Rust...area behind rear passenger tire. Considering this is a New England vehicle, and 25 years old, I don't think this is bad. The same area on the other side does have some rust, but not as bad.

 

[NeverFinis]

Mice found their way into the sunroof tray.

Most of the sheet metal looks really good. Just needs a cleaning.

 

[NeverFinis]

I have been working on fixing the roof holes left by the factory roof rack.

All the rivet nuts removed. The easy way was to remove the rivnets was with a dremel using a carbide bit.

I also had a bit trouble welding due to lack of shielding gas. I am a newb welder but even I could see an issue with the shielding gas.

I first thought it was the wind blowing it away but it turns out it was a disconnected hose inside the welder.

I used the tool below to close the hole with a piece of copper. Weld will not stick to copper.

This is what it looks like underneath after welding. Not pretty but hopefully works.

Welded holes. Today I will be using a bit of filler and a quick prime and paint.

 

[NeverFinis]

Finished painting. I did an amazingly s*** job of painting. I will definitely have a pro do it once the LX450 is on the road.

 

[Perfected]

Cool thread! What was your method of removing the old factory roof rack? Need to do that myself to see if theres any rust under it and clean it up.

 

[UsedLuxury]

View attachment 2692171

This speaks to me. Not sure why.

 

[NeverFinis]

Cool thread! What was your method of removing the old factory roof rack? Need to do that myself to see if theres any rust under it and clean it up.

Screw driver and force...lol. Some of the rivnets spun and I recommend removing the factory head liner and using vice grips to keep them from spinning. For two, I used a cutoff wheel to cut into the roof rack feet to cut the bolt in half.

The headliner and sun roof will need to be removed if you plan on welding them shut. Some have dimpled the holes and just used jb weld to close the holes.

 

[White Stripe]

Painted my 42 gallon ..just because.

View attachment 2697140

I'm considering the 42 gallon. Looking forward to seeing how far it hangs down.

 

[NeverFinis]

Test fitting the Rugged Bound drawers. They are not fully bolted down.

The cardboard is the approximate size of the refrigerator I just ordered. It was $200 off last weekend.. No real reason for an ICECO over a Dometic, except cost. The ICECO will be a tight fit. The Dometic would fit better but was $500 more for the same size (75L).

Edited to add that I reinstalled one rear seat to check dimensions.

 

[NeverFinis]

The ICECO VL 75 Pro arrived. Impulse purchase due to father's day sale. I first thought it will be a tight fit due to its length. All the dimensional drawings show it to be 38.3" long, not including the handles. In reality, the 38.3" is inclusive of the handles and without the handles, it is closer to 35" long. I have room to spare! The left lid does open fully inside the truck, and the right opens partially, but enough to be usable. ICECO hasn't released a slide or cover for it yet.

 

[NeverFinis]

I have been waiting for these to arrive. If you want these, buy from the source: Overland Metric

 

[NeverFinis]

kudos to @RuggedBound for sending me a new cover for an awning.

The 270 degree awning's cover had a small tear that developed during shipping from South Africa. Not a big deal but I did mention it to Theo, the man behind Rugged Bound. He said no problem and that he will ship me a new one. He wanted to know where the tear was to better protect future shipments during long transits.

Rugged Bound is an importer of overland gear from South Africa. I highly recommend.

 

[RuggedBound]

kudos to @RuggedBound for sending me a new cover for an awning.

The 270 degree awning's cover had a small tear that developed during shipping from South Africa. Not a big deal but I did mention it to Theo, the man behind Rugged Bound. He said no problem and that he will ship me a new one. He wanted to know where the tear was to better protect future shipments during long transits.

Rugged Bound is an importer of overland gear from South Africa. I highly recommend.

Thanks Karl - I am trying really hard here and we can always improve - thanks for the shout out !

 

[NeverFinis]

After much reading and researching, I just ordered MFP1945a from Marks 4WD yesterday. I already have the tracking number.

Still looking for right low mile engine, but it will have to be coupled to a 6L80e or 6L90e transmission.

Top of my list of engines is L82/L83/L84 5.3L, followed by the L96 6.0L. The 5.3L mainly due better fuel economy compared to a 6.2L and lighter weight compared to the L96. Fuel range and weight is important for me.

 

[NeverFinis]

Something just arrived all the way from down-under.

Time to get serious about that engine/transmission.

 

[NeverFinis]

It has been a while...been working on other projects like keeping my 191K mile s*** box on the road.

I am still going back and forth between a L96/6l90e or L83/6l80e for an engine swap. Pros and Cons to each. Weight, Power, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Ease of swapping..I will make the decision once the 1FZ-FE has been pulled and the engine bay is almost ready for a replacement engine...or something comes up as a deal....

I spent this past weekend removing the spare tire support in order to install the extended range tank, and the rear bumper to be replaced by a Delta VS bumper.

The LX450 rear bumper was obviously designed by Rube Goldberg, but a carbide rotary bit made short work of all those bolts that refused to budge.

I snapped 4 bolts, two here, and two on the tire cross member.

Top view of rear frame. Toyota had an aluminum plate directly on top of the steel frame = Galvanic Corrosion. It is all surface rust that a grinder will be able to be removed. I was worried about this cross-member, but I think it is fine. This vehicle will be a tool, and will be used hard...Being pretty isn't a requirement.

Rust that I didn't know about, behind the driver's rear tire. Behind the passenger rear tire is worse. I will have to cut both out and replace. Bummer that there are not patch panels available for this area as it is prone to rust. This is the only real significant body rust on the truck, which isn't too bad considering this is a NE truck. I am sure there is more under the body molding...

 

[NeverFinis]

Removed all the busted bolts via drilling. I wasn't able to weld a nut onto them for whatever reason but drilling worked.

I am using Rust-Oleum® Specialty Farm & Implement paint as primer. Low Glass Black version of the paint will be the top coat. I have had great success with Rust-Oleum in the past on frames, and I can use a very heavy coat. All this will be hidden by a DeltaVS bumper.

Next, I need to patch the sheet metal before I can fit the bumper since the bumper will cover it. I will cut out the rust and do a simple sheet metal patch since none of it will ever be seen, it is nonfunctional, and I assume someone will eventually make patch panels that will fit exactly...it is a common rust area on FJ80/LX450.

I replaced all the bolts on the tailgate with Overland Metric SS JIS bolts tailgate kit. Well worth the money. They are my preferred source for JIS SS bolts, especially M8x1.25 with 12mm heads.